I wound up NOT going to the hospital; she couldn't really stay awake, and I know that if she knew I'd driven seventy miles each way, she'd force herself. I'll wait until she's feeling better and just go to the house. (then I can play with her doggies, too!)

Other than spending way too much time on OKCupid, it wasn't a bad week/weekend. I was on my way to massage last week, via the post office, when I heard my name called from a nail shop. Zeffna (Jennifer) and I have been sistas since 1983 or maybe even earlier. We've known each other at our absolute worst. Our best, too... and I still remember her hot pink bikini. (I wouldn't have dared wear it. We had a mutual friend who, well, to put it kindly, didn't pull it off as well as Jennifer.) She and I lose touch, and then it's like nothing's changed. Maybe this time we can be in touch for more than a year, especially since she's lost 180 lb! (She's gotten rid of the guy she'd married. I hope.)

Speaking of losing touch and then nothing's changed: Lianna and I had a four hour phone phone marathon last week. She and I got into a fight in 1998 or so. We've obviously cooled down; one of us got in touch with the other around 2005? but it didn't last. NOW we're Pams again! (She and I were groupie sidekicks. My mom was THRILLED when Jerry Springer canceled our appearance an hour before our flight, because we weren't slutty enough! We were the Potential Pamelas, in honor of Pamela des Barres.)

Lianna and Jen were entirely different parts of my life, but it's so easy to go back to either one at the drop of a hat/the ring of a phone. I guess it's because I was so comfortable with both of them since the beginning.

AND speaking of losing touch etc.: Rich has four days left in Iraq! Other than passing his house, I haven't seen him since the night he hung out with me at Merit (maybe 1987?) and while we were talking, his friends stole three cartons of cigarettes. (I don't think he knew. It came out of my paycheck; everything was inventoried.) It will be great to see him.

The church book sale was Saturday. I took the wheeled luggage, filled with books that my mom and I have been adding all month, and put it into the basket in back of the tricycle. It really held down my average speed! I only got five books for this month - but Roots is pretty heavy. Riding back was much easier. I detoured down Savin, since the trees are pretty (and there's this black house on top of a hill... it would be a bitch to plow in winter, but right now it looks spooky and ideal) to the beach. In total, I did 7.27 miles - my longest [of a whopping three] rides this summer. My butt is still sore. I may go out again after work and errands if it's not raining yet.

I am still feeling pretty lazy, but I need to start boxing (and cataloging) my books by subject. (Pre-history and Holocaust, mostly) I DID wash and bag slacks to give away last week, and laundered a bag of women's clothes that will never fit me again (including my absolutely biggest jeans) to put into the box behind Trader Joe's when I go today. I need to wash all my BME shirts next, and see who wears XL and XXL. I don't really want most of them anymore, and they're taking up a lot of room. Otherwise, they'll just get thrown out. (No, I'm not taking names yet)

I'm gonna go read.

mom and i accomplished a lot more than i thought we would, today, considering that yesterday was a bad pain day for me, with the rain, and the pain still hasn't finished winding down. (i'm telling ya, roland and coinneach in the desert are looking like better and better hosts/apartment finding assistants...)

mom's second cataract surgery is monday, so we needed to stock up on groceries. i hate like hell making "an ol' lady," as she sometimes refers to herself, do all the heavy lifting.

we began at staples; the only way i'll find my ethernet cable is to replace it. i also got a blotter-style calendar for work (our catalog has them for about triple the price, though everything else has been cheaper, with this vendor), and a replacement mouse for my desktop. (my wonderful microsoft mouse has lasted through three or four boyfriends, but has been dying mid-session.) we stocked up on staples (no pun intended) at the market, and then came home.

while we were finishing up at the store, my boss called because he needed some blank forms to be signed by clients tomorrow so that they can be fax-filed on Monday. i rode the trike to the office and home: just over two miles, but my legs have been achey since yesterday.

i also finished sholom aleichem's the great fair. mom will enjoy it when her second eye has healed! beyond that, i didn't do much else. i'll have to do laundry tonight, since tomorrow is amee's non-surprise bridal shower and i won't have time. (it's going to be a sunny, low-pain day)

OH: Mona, the amazing massage therapist, now has an office in the West Haven Center. if you want to make an appointment, let me know and i'll give the location and number (i'm not posting them!) - you won't be sorry. i am definitely going after my social security hearing... and, maybe before, because i haven't had a massage since june 23 (that can't be right, can it???) and i'm dying here. that's going to mean that i can list her on my social security expenses, but that they're not going to care (it's not within their time frame). GRR.

incidentally... i need to get into the social security system so i can apply for health insurance assistance. those people don't talk to anyone who's not on social security. i hate that. i also hate that it seems like i'd have an easier time if i were lying. i keep hearing that, as well as that it wouldn't be a bad idea to stop my other non-pain meds and let them see what i'm like. (i just can't do that to my family.)

thom had mentioned rudy's tonight, but he hasn't responded to emails. i hope they have fun.

i took the trike; it was such a GLORIOUS day. a few teenagers made fun of me, a few teenagers thought it was cool, and a few people stopped to ask me more, including a mother of a woman with Down's. i hope that she can get it, if no one else, and that it works out.

i saw a man with a Persian Gulf cap and, as i always do, i offered to shake his hand. (unlike the homeless man to whom i tried to give money on friday, the Veteran wasn't afraid of me!) we talked for a while. he told me about being the only survivor in a jeep that hit a land mine. he told me stuff that i told him was none of my business, but that he wanted me to know because people look down on him. he gets crap for serving in Bush Sr's war. what the HELL - he did his job!? any of us refused to do our jobs, and we'd be screwed; i bet he'd get worse. he's homeless, sleeping in ball fields and eating slugs and bugs. (i know they're a good source of protein, and he's using his survivor skills but, as a vegetarian, i'm bugged by that. he found "bugged" very amusing!) he was eyeing the stinky food stands, and i did have $10, and i told him i'd be honored if he'd allow me to buy him lunch - because of what he did for our country. (i don't know if we NEEDED to be in that war - i was very self-absorbed at the time - but i respect soldiers.) he wouldn't accept. at all. he wasn't offended, but damnit he's a man and can makie his own way... we got to talking about the VA, and he was pissed because of the disability rating he got. (his leg is FUCKED from that jeep explosion.) i explained that he can't get 100% because his spine works, and explained how i know (it's my job to collect medical records, and i read them to make sure i don't need other files. plus, there's my own rating...) he took it better from me than from the doctor, i'll tell you... he hit the doctor. he went back to the jeep accident, and walked away. he came back long enough to say that he couldn't talk anymore. (he couldn't. period. i was surprised he came back.) he will haunt me. i will assume he wasn't scamming me, since he didn't take my money, and i have to wonder how often women stop him to talk (even if we're not on tricycles). that truly sucks. i wish better for him. he's only the second homeless vet i've met since i began my crusade of shaking their hands, which i guess is a good ratio... but he's a man, not a statistic.

on the way home, after getting air in the tires (and having to tip because i couldn't hold the gauge), i ran into shelly, bringing lily and dahlia to the apple fest. for those who know the couple: shelly's phish's wife - phish, the former piercer, now bail bondsman. i like her a lot and would like to hang out with her again. so many of my friends don't live nearby. and those who do... there aren't a lot of women around HERE with tattoos, and the only reason i'd stand out next to her is that hers are better. she's a nice lady... anyway, the kids look GORGEOUS.

today, i had a nuclear bone scan. i'm not radioactive anymore :) and wonder if THIS test will have a diagnosis for me?

as we got home, we had to detour several blocks (maybe a mile?) because the parade was beginning. SCORE - i had enough time to carry in a few things, grab my camera, put my ID in my pocket, and get on my trike.

even more than "potential eligible bachelors?" i immediately think of my beautiful friend Lyss, who's an Australian lady with a mild (!) fetish for US firefighters.

don't worry, Lyss; photos are uploading now. mostly of the trucks, because of the police barricade (and because i'm using a 3.2MP camera) but i tried to get some of the snazzy dress uniforms. (no working gear - way too hot!) they'll be at http://flickr.com/rebekahsue in their own Set [the first 97 are up], and i'll work on renaming them, tagging them, and putting them onto the flickr map - each truck with its town. several cities were represented, along with their color guards and drum corps. (i didn't take pictures of the kids, obviously - i never do when i don't know them. but i got several of the trucks, the flags, the color guards... over a hundred photos are loading.)

I've got other photos on the flickr map. look around my town (filter) and you'll see some of mine on the beach. actually, after the parade, i "detoured" half a mile from home, and added another 4+ miles to the ride, and took three more pictures (accidentally deleted!) for my slideshow of photos taken from the seat of the trike. it wound up being a really nice way to spend the afternoon.

since i'm planning to take the trike to work, i should log off now. the ride's only about five minutes, but my hands and the lock have a personality conflict, and that takes another five minutes.

the mouse is pretty self-explanatory, though i'll add that all four USB ports on the laptop are now temperamental. despite the lights being on, indicating that appliances are, indeed, plugged in, they're simply not working.

my dad expects to be waited on hand and foot and when we don't, he tantrums. i know he's been hospitalized recently, but if you really want to see a fit, remind him that he's not even close to the sickest person in the house. (my mom's eye is healing nicely! thank goodness, and the cancer stays back thanks to the the marvels of modern medicine.) (do we even want to remind him of the chronic pain that makes merely sitting upright a chore? he keeps insisting he has no pain, to which my catty mother has replied, "no sense, no feeling." meow! >^^<) It doesn't help that we don;t have household help. i haven't seen my sister over here since the day of my mom's surgery (August 13). The social worker hasn't been here in weeks... I'll be contacting the VA tomorrow and, if I don't get results, our congresswoman.

the neighborhood kids have been around a lot. M is going to be a teenager in a few days, and she's a really nice, sweet girl. she's dubbed me as her new best friend and has invited me to her birthday party tomorrow (website cranky). she's also the neighborhood babysitter; one of her charges lives in the house in which i had my first babysitting job (and, indeed, i recommended her). M's little brother, m, will ride his bike down here - on the sidewalk - to talk to me. He just started first grade. They, with D, who just started kindergarten, were here this morning to watch the fourteen turkeys in the yard (and to see whose car - my brother's - was at the house). the kids know everything because the parents talk and they listen. without them, i'd have very little idea of what's going on! I've also begun sitting on the stoops with the kids' mothers.

yesterday, everyone wanted a turn on our trike! i reminded them all how they made fun of me when i bought it... M was begging to ride it again today, despite the two-wheeler she was riding at the time of inquiry! (it's rough because i hate sharing.)

my car is now in the garage. i was putting that off as long as possible because the garage has always been my mom's domain, and i'm not used to her having sold her car. However, after the police left last Saturday, I didn't use the car Sunday, and on Monday I rode the trike to work. when i came home, i looked at the car - and isn't it odd that there were four deliberate coffee pours on my poor Sonata? i filed a police report, and strongly suggested that the officer pull Nora's file since she has a history with the police. on my behalf, he was VERY pissed. (that evening, i called Dre, since he gossips like a woman, and i pointed that out, as well as that i wanted the other families to be wary. he and his lady friend have rigged cameras on the house, and M and m's parents have motion-sensitive lights on their property.) So Jacob, the car, and Keith, the trike, are sharing the garage. So Jacob, the car, and Keith, the trike, are sharing the garage.

Work is as good as it's gonna get. i love my job, and i really appreciate my boss giving me time to go with my mom on her, or my dad's, doctor's appointments so that my mom doesn't have to go alone. (we can't trust my dad not to "wander" if mom needs the bathroom, or to *gasp!* go for his prescriptions. during hers, she likes an "extra pair of ears" to pay attention to instructions, or assist with questions. it's one of the few things i can do for her.)

social security denied me - i "make too much." i'd be above poverty level IF i didn't have medical expenses but, after said expenses, i'm several thousand dollars below the federally-mandated poverty level. so i sent my appeal on friday.) i ache so much that i've considered prednisone. i'd spoken with the lady who owns the gym where I used to have physical therapy, and she said that the side effects would affect my riding the trike. (One of my boss's clients suggests - strongly - that i see a rheumtologist.)

My first article on six sentences is up. i hope you enjoy. i haven't updated modified news because i don't have enough writing mojo to do anything more creative than six sentences. (there are two more brief articles in their queue.

i'm a full week behind on buddies' blogs, so enjoy this because now i'm gonna be busy.

(also, if you're bored, you can check out the different photo sets that i've uploaded so far onto flickr.

THAT didn't happen. I got about half a mile past where I'd gone last weekend, and noticed the hill. My knees have been bugging me - arthritis - this week worse than they had for months, and I didn't know if I'd be able to go back up it when it was time to turn around. I'd been riding about 46:00 minutes by that point, so I turned around. I was glad to take the bike route home, since I stopped to romp with three long-haired daschunds with ears like cocker spaniels. THAT was the best part of the ride.

When I got home, the odometer said I'd been riding for 1:22 (it stopped when I got off to play with the pups) and, even though I was too tired to check the mileage, I figure I did about ten miles. (I averaged 7-8 MPH; sometimes I got up to 10MPH but, on hills for example, I was only going 4MPH.) It was good and I'm glad I got out.

When I got out of the shower, the sun was out. Go figure.

My mom and I sat on the front stoop for a while. One of the neighbor's friends came over to say Hi and talk tattoos. (The neighbor had gotten her son and his friends to help with yardwork.)

Now, go back a few days, for a minute. I was out on the trike after Baybrook brought him back from his broken chain. I saw a neighbor who, with his girlfriend Nora (the unobtainable crush probably knows her), not only fight until the wee hours but also walk their dog in the park without cleaning up his uh, waste. That's a $77+ fine. I told him I'd seen them (true) and had pictures (not true) and would they please start cleaning up so the kids can play. I admit I got loud - I said I wasn't calling the police ... yet (true) ... but I had to shout because he was rude and kept arguing with me that everyone does it (not true - between my stoop, my car, and my trike, I can see who cleans up) and he talked over me. (After one mess, which one of my neighbors saw, my neighbor had to bring a bucket and bleach to clean the jungle gym and slide so that her kids could use it!)

So back to today: my mom and I are quietly talking on the steps when we see the psycho girlfriend (believe me, she makes me look sane...even without the rampant rumors about her!!) started yelling at the kids in the park. Then she headed to our house and had the nerve to start screaming at me! My mother was so disgusted that she walked in the house. (My brother will remember that the lady who used to live behind us, Emma, called my mom a lady and explained the difference between a lady and a woman in that a lady is "a woman of refinement." My mom may be middle class, but you talk to her for five minutes and you know you're in the presence of someone who was taught good manners - and who paid attention to her lessons!) Nora was vulgar - and on top of that, she was lying about cleaning up after her dog, which was the ONLY thing I want!

It took the police a while to get to my house after I called; it wasn't an true emergency. (Please note that I called because she offended my mother, and not because she called me fat.) In that time, I did something I'd never done: I hung out with the neighborhood grownups! The daughter of one, who comes to my sidewalk and who has been inching her way to sitting on the stairs, went into the house and brought us all lemonade :) and we talked about not only Nora's behaviour (her dog also uses the neighbors' lawns for his toilet) but also about the neighborhood, the kids, perfume and cosmetics, typing and computers... i felt like one of them. I passed around my boys' pictures, too.

We all picked up a bit of litter (there isn't much) and split up.

Shortly after, that daughter came over to sit on the steps. Her objective was to tell me that Nora was screaming at the police. (I told them why I had called, and told them that I love dogs and children, but I don't think that children should be playing in dogs' waste, and that I didn't think it was too much to ask. I assured them that I don't want to fight, I just want the kids to have a clean playground. They agreed.) I told the girl that, when you're polite, if the other person is obnoxious and out of control, you are the person who will be believed. (she says that she likes to learn stuff from me, so...) we talked about her favorite subjects at school as she inched toward the steps, and was actually sitting down when she told me about her summer reading. (I'd told her mother that she's always welcome; she's got great manners, and she's really good with the kids. I've recommended her to new neighbors as a potential babysitter.)

She decided to bring me to the home of another neighbor who has also had to call the cops on Nora - and the neighbor is the wife of the gentleman who plowed our driveway last winter. (she said that I was right, her husband wouldn't have accepted anything, and that the dog loved the treat.) There was another gathering of neighbors (We weren't looking for trouble, but the people facing me could see Nora's house, and she sat there, seething. And brought out her dog - with a trash bag for the mess. By her actions, it was obviously the first time.) ... next time my brother's here to watch my dad, I want to take my mom out to hang out, too. It felt good. When I was little, the mothers all sat at the same woman's house, in chairs, after the soaps, to talk, and I felt like that. I miss Mona and the new lady is on vacation with her family, and except for the small kids in the neighborhood, I don't have anyone to talk to when my mom is napping or I'm outside smoking. They all decided to go to the supermarket and even the children wanted me to go, but I'd gone out the first time just out of the shower: my hair wasn't combed and i wasn't dressed like a mench, so I begged off. (While I was eating dinner, I looked out the window and a kindergartener and his sister were outside looking for me.)

The evening ended with my mom and me watching Born Yesterday. We forgot to make popcorn but it was otherwise the perfect end to a surprisingly good day.




The title of this post... I got distracted by life, etc., and left the computer for over three hours. During that time, I checked the trike's computer. Average speed today: 7.2mph. Total distance: 10.01 miles.

after that, i finally changed my sheets (which i'd planned to do on sunday but was, well, DISTRACTED because dad was doing so poorly) and took my ride.

usually, it gets easy, and i fall into a zone, within two or three blocks. i'd gone past my old grammar school - 3/4 of a mile away, before i felt it, and my right knee hurt the whole time.

i thought i saw my old friend from work, shane, as i was pedaling. the guy was a hottie, but not shane. i didn't stop; i don't like to break my rhythm.

i stopped to take a few pictures at the beach, and was nearly eaten alive by sand flies. when i go again, i swear, i'm going to put that stinky absorbine jr. spray all over - it's horrid. (but it works for pain so maybe the flies will hate it. maybe next time, i won't use mango scented lotion.)

the first few pictures i took from the bike path were pretty bad but i readjusted the camera and these three are good. note that this is walking distance from my house. when we were teenagers, we'd go back and forth, walking around, sometimes stopping for something to eat or for cigarettes, multiple times a day.

this is why i love riding by the beach.